The holiday season is here and holiday shoppers are currently searching for bargains to stuff their loved ones stockings with and to fill the space underneath the Christmas tree.  With Christmas fast approaching, it’s important to be sure that you’ve done everything you can to get your eMerchantClub eCommerce site ready for this vital time of year. 

When shoppers come to your site looking for holiday bargains, it’s important that your site gives the impression that they have come to the right place for their Christmas needs.  One way that you can instantly relay this message is by taking advantage of our Christmas layout themes.  Consider giving your site a holiday makeover by applying one of our various Christmas themes.  This is the time of year when shoppers begin to see Christmas decorations go up in their favorite shopping malls.  Shoppers are accustomed to experiencing this metamorphosis in their shopping destinations and some consider this change to be an important component that contributes to the holiday spirit.  You can easily redecorate your site with Christmas ornamentation by applying any layout from 66 and above and then choosing the Christmas theme for your chosen layout.

There is also a general Holiday theme on each of these layouts that you can choose which is geared toward the other holidays of this season.

After applying your Christmas or Holiday theme, you’re ready for the next important step, which is to prominently display your Christmas and holiday related items on your home page.  If you have chosen layout 76 or above, then you can utilize the featured departments tool to bring attention to your holiday-related departments.  This tool is located in Appearance > Customize Storefront > Featured Departments.  Here you can choose which departments to feature on your home page and you can also add your own wording for the header of each featured department section.  For example, you could enter a header such as Check out these great holiday items! And then add the Christmas and Hanukah departments.  You could also enter a title such as Holiday Bargains and add departments to that section which contain discounted holiday items.

If you have a Version 10 site, then you can utilize the dynamic animated widgets to further draw attention to your Christmas items.  For example, you could easily create an image slider containing attractive Christmas images such as the one below:

To do this, go to Appearance > Widget Library and click on Add Widget.  Next, click on the Image Slider link to go to the Widget Details page.  Enter a name and description for the widget.  Select the size 515 x 320.  In the available images dropdown, notice that there are several images with the word Christmas in the name.  Choose up to five of these images.  Next, choose an effect.  The image slider shown above uses the Fade effect.  Save the widget.  Once the widget is created, it’s time to add it to your layout.  This particular size image slider (515 x 320) is compatible with layouts 86, 87, 91 and 92.  After applying one of those layouts to your site, you’ll see the Layout Settings page shown below:

Click on the section labeled Placeholder #1. On the next page, select the image slider widget that you just created.

Similarly, you can easily create an accordion widget that contains items from your Christmas or other holiday departments such as the one shown below. (Click the title bar to expand and collapse the accordion).

To create this accordion widget go back to Appearance > Widget Library and click on Add Widget.  Next, click on the Accordion/Static link to go to the Widget Details page.  Enter a widget name and description.  From the Product List dropdown, choose a number and then choose the option Random products from chosen department.  On the Select Department dropdown, choose a department such as Christmas or Hanukah.  Next, add it your layout by going to Appearance > Style and Color > Layout Settings.  Click on one of the placeholders for the Accordion/Static type and choose the accordion you just created.

Now that you have your site all decorated for the holidays, it’s time to invite some shoppers to your store.  Consider creating a coupon promotion on your site such as the one shown below:

Once this coupon is created, get the word out that shoppers can receive a 25% discount on your website by entering the coupon code Christmas.  There are several ways you can relay this message.  For example, you could include this on your business cards or print out some postcards with your website URL and the coupon code.  You can also e-mail all of your registered and potential shoppers using the Sales > Shoppers > E-mail All Registered Shoppers or Sales > Shoppers > E-mail Potential Shoppers sections.

Hopefully, this has given you some good ideas about how you can make the best of the holiday season using your eMerchantClub eCommerce website.  If your site does not include some of the mentioned features, give us a call at (888) 806-2081 for information on getting these features or for information on getting the 2009 Christmas eCatalog which features hundreds of Christmas and holiday items.

As always, if you have any questions please contact Technical Support via e-mail at techsupport@emerchantclub.com by going to Live Chat Technical Support at http://www.emerchantclub.com/support.html or by calling (877) 384-4691.

Thank you,

Your eMerchantClub Team
eMerchantClub LLC
996 Flower Glen Street
Simi Valley , CA 93065
(877) 384-4691 Phone
(888) 201-2680 Fax

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